No charges or closure for Jones in OIG flap

Published 7:30 pm, Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Photo: Mayra Beltran

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

"I am confident that when all of the facts come to light, I will have acted within the acceptable standards of conduct." says City Council member Jolanda Jones during a press conference where she reads a prepared statement regarding Office of Inspector General report on possible ethics violations on Monday, June 13, 2011, in Houston. ( Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle ) less

"I am confident that when all of the facts come to light, I will have acted within the acceptable standards of conduct." says City Council member Jolanda Jones during a press conference where she reads a ... more

Photo: Mayra Beltran

No charges or closure for Jones in OIG flap

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

The Harris County District Attorney's Office has found no reason to prosecute Houston City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones on allegations she used her city office and employees to benefit her law practice, according to a letter to the city that was released Tuesday.

In a Sept. 15 letter made public Tuesday by Mayor Annise Parker's office, the district attorney's office informed Houston City Attorney David Feldman that it had "concluded there is insufficient evidence to prove Ms. Jones committed a crime."

Jones welcomed the finding at a brief news conference Tuesday afternoon at City Hall and said it is time for a review panel of her colleagues to finish its probe into whether she violated city ethics policies.

"I have never used my role as a council member to benefit anything or anyone other than the people I was elected to serve," Jones said. "It is time for all of us to put this distraction aside and focus on the significant challenges the city faces. I am again asking that the review panel bring this matter to a close."

The panel, which consists of the mayor and council members C.O. Bradford and Sue Lovell, began meeting in June after Councilman Mike Sullivan filed a complaint against Jones.

Lovell and Bradford could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Sullivan's complaint was in response to the June 8 release of a report by the city's Office of Inspector General that concluded Jones had used city employees and resources to benefit her private law practice and lied to investigators about it.

The panel stopped working in July, when the investigation was presented to the district attorney.

Jones' attorney, Lori Hood, said Tuesday she thought the panel had been close to finishing its work when the Office of Inspector General took the matter to the district attorney.

Parker recommended in a statement Tuesday that the review panel not resume working until after the Nov. 11 City Council election "to avoid any unintended interference or undue influence in the political process."

Jones faces three opponents in her bid for re-election to the At-Large District 5 seat.

As noted in the mayor's statement, the review panel cannot overturn or change the inspector general's report. Rather, she said, it is a question of whether council action is warranted.

"Council Member Jones has already taken steps to change policies and procedures in her office to prevent further violations," Parker's statement said.

Hood disputed that statement. She also questioned why the letter from the district attorney's office was sent Sept. 15, but Jones did not learn of it until Tuesday.

Parker spokeswoman Janice Evans said Jones had been out of the country on Sept. 15. A Jones spokeswoman said the councilwoman returned home Saturday and was available by phone or email while she was gone.

The investigation into Jones' conduct stemmed from a complaint that while at a forum on police brutality, the councilwoman distributed cards advising people never to speak with the police. The cards had her City Hall and law office phone numbers on them. Jones has said she has given out similar cards since 2007.

Hood also maintained that the investigation was broader than it should have been, given the initial complaint about Jones distributing the cards.

"The Office of Inspector General turned this into a review of her last four years on council," Hood said. "That's not the way it's supposed to work."

Jones does not intend to drop a state bar grievance she filed in July against Feldman, in which she alleged the city attorney violated legal ethics in his handling of the investigation into her conduct, spokeswoman Kelly Cripe said.

"The issues that prompted the filing of the grievance still remain," Cripe said.

Hood has said that Jones' grievance contends that Feldman participated in a legal process that he largely designed and gave legal advice in a case in which he was a witness.